Ramadoss blames Orissa government for cholera outbreak

By IANS

New Delhi : Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss Tuesday blamed the Orissa government for not doing enough to contain the outbreak of cholera and diarrhoea that has clamed at least 80 lives in the state in recent weeks.


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“Everything is happening in the KBK (Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput) districts. The state government needs to do more on this front,” Ramadoss said.

“These districts don’t have proper drinking water or road connectivity and are facing many more problems. Several diseases like malaria are raising their head. I think the state government can do a better job,” the minister told IANS on the sidelines of a programme on medicinal plants in the capital.

“This is unfortunate. We will soon advise the state on how to go about it.”

An outbreak of diarrhoea and cholera has claimed 80 lives in three backward districts of Orissa during the past one and a half months in the aftermath of monsoon rains. Thousands still suffer from water-borne diseases.

At least 48 people have died of cholera in the impoverished tribal district of Rayagada. In neighbouring Koraput, district 26 died of diarrhoea. At least six people have died in Kalahandi.

Outbreak of cholera and diarrhoea is not new in the three districts, which have witnessed such outbreaks almost every monsoon. The cause has been the same over the years – rainwater slush from hilltops contaminating water sources.

Cholera is a severe form of diarrhoea and one of the most fatal illnesses known – a healthy person may die within two to three hours of the onset of symptoms. It is transmitted through ingestion of faeces-contaminated water loaded with the cholera bacterium.

Cholera has gripped 26 villages in most affected Rayagada but 16 of them remain inaccessible.

On Monday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as well as a three-member team headed by Shiv Lal, director of the Delhi-based National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), visited the affected areas.

Ramadoss said that a team of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had gone to Orissa to take stock of the situation.

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